I woke up at 6am in the ‘Semen’ hotel (snigger) and my first
thought was that I couldn’t believe what we did yesterday – in particular using
my headtorch to light the way – so dangerous! At least I’d stopped shaking
though.
After breakfast, we picked up our lunch boxes for the day’s hike
and drove to the park ticket booth. There we bought our ticket and had to pay
for a guide and two rangers, one armed with a rifle for good measure. I later
noticed our ticket was dated 19th November 2004 (ah the good old
Ethiopian calendar!)
We took our guide and rangers and drove up and up and up to the
park entrance past stunning lush green scenery. The road was very slippery and
we were skidding around but at least it was daylight I guess, although the fog
did start rolling in as we got higher and higher. The thought that I was crazy
hiking in these conditions did cross my mind, but I really wanted to see geladas
and a lammergeyer if possible. Shaun and Karen had recently watched David
Attenborough’s ‘Life: Birds’ and found out about the lammergeyer that lives on 85-90% bone marrow, dropping bones from a height to crack them
open and feed on.
We dropped Bruce off at the Simien Lodge – the highest hotel in
Africa with the highest bar in Africa it claims – as he had a sore leg.
As it
turns out, geladas surrounded him out the front and he saw lammergeyers on the
hill in front of him so he had a great time.
The rest of us set off in the fog
and shortly after came across a
large group of geladas! The dominant male had a shaggy coat, black face and red
chest and was by far the most spectacular in my opinion.
I was so excited I
accidentally smiled – the dominant male interpreted my bared teeth as
aggression and looked as though he was about to charge me but I stood up
quickly backed away before he could act upon it. Oops. Another two Geladas were
mating and a baby was eating and playing,
but most were just delousing each other.
Initially they were moving away from us but then they got used to us, remaining
only partially alert and sceptical.
Photo courtesy of Andrea & Garrett
We left them reluctantly and walked down the mountain until we
reached a cliff edge. Our guide, Mular, told us you can normally see the entire
valley from here but we couldn’t see a thing – it was covered in fog. As he was
briefing us on the park and the local inhabitants, the fog miraculously lifted
and we caught glimpses of the green valley below.
Photo courtesy of Andrea & Garrett
We were thrilled. The main
things we had had wanted to see were geladas and the view of the valley. The
only thing which could’ve made it any better was a lammergeyer.
We amused ourselves by buying silly hats from the local kids and
just sat for a while admiring the spectacular view, watching the fog roll in
and out every minute.
Photo courtesy of Dom
Photo courtesy of Dom
Photo courtesy of Shaun & Karen
An Egyptian vulture flew overhead and Shaun and Karen
said the only thing that could make this any better was a lammergeyer and then,
one suddenly appeared!
We were told it wasn’t the season for them here but one
had just flown high above our heads. Mular was so excited for us and said we
are very lucky to have seen one. Another couple of them passed overhead and
then another four. Reluctantly we had to leave them too as it was about to rain
and the minivan wouldn’t have coped going back down the mountain in it. I came
back to the hotel to relax while Shaun, Karen and Dom walked around Debark and
came across a local tej (honey wine) bar which a few of us then visited that
night.
The tej cost only 30 birr a bottle (less than $2) and they source
the honey locally. The waitress knocked the sediment from the bottle onto the
floor and then poured us beakers of the wine.
It was actually the best tej we’d
had in the whole of Ethiopia – so sweet and smooth. Two locals got chatting
with us – one a student studying social work and tourism, who told us he was
thankful we were visiting his country. He organised for the staff to show us
out the back where the tej gets made (in the room next to the one with the cow)
and then they took us up the road to let us try some local beer.
It was a tiny one-room bar in a shack up a muddy road, next to an
old army tank. Inside the shack, we came across a roomful of farmers from a
farmer’s association, wearing Wellington boots and holding canes which we later
found out they use to navigate through the mud, to cross rivers, and if they’re
drunk, to fight with!
The boys got a local homemade beer (tella) each, made
from barley, and I have to say I’m grateful I only had a sip of theirs as it
tasted watery and smoky – I much prefer tej. A jug full of the stuff costs only
10 birr (about 70 cents) so you can’t complain about the price at least.
A lady police offer was sitting amongst them and we were told she
waits to see if any fights break out. If they do, she hauls the offenders off
to a cell in the police station for the night. One of our guys told us he’d
been wrongly accused of being implicated in a fight and said he didn’t sleep
all night in the cell as there were fleas EVERYWHERE which got all through his
clothes. Needless to say he had to throw those clothes out after that!
A chicken wandered through the bar and started flapping around causing
too much fuss so a child scooped him up and took him to another room. A kitten
then ran in followed by another chicken. The kitten was afraid of the chicken and we
thought there might be a battle: kitten vs chicken as they kept chasing each
other around and having stand offs.
At one point the chicken flew about a metre
into the air and landed on Shaun, causing a ruckus and it was also swiftly removed
from the room thereby ending the kitten vs chicken entertainment.
After the boys finished their beers, we gave the remainder of the
jug’s contents to the farmers (who insisted the entire thing went to one farmer
in particular). He was thrilled! The boys then continued on to other bars on a
bit of a pub crawl whilst Karen and I came back to the hotel. Best local bar
experience to date I think.
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